Locomotive-boiler fire-box.



J. T. ANTHONY.

LOGOMOTIVE BOILER FIRE BOX.

APPLICATION FILED 001. 1. 1913.

Patented Nov. 24, 1914.

UNITED STA'l ES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES '1. ANTHONY, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN ARCH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

LOCOMOTIVE-BOILER FIRE-BOX.

Application filed October 1, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES T. ANTHONY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of East Orange, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locomotive-Boiler Fire-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in locomotives and has particular reference to improvements in locomotive boiler fire boxes.

The object of my invention is to provide a locomotive boiler furnace of the extension combustion chamber type, which shall prevent the free escape of gases of combustion from the fire-box; which shall prevent the escape from the fire-box of cinders and other unburned fuel particles which are carried by the gases of combustion, and which shall be provided with simple means for the withdrawal and removal of the accumulated cinders from the extension of the fire-box.

A further object of my invention is to provide a construction for locomotive boiler furnaces of the extension combustion chamber type which shall effectively prevent the ejection of cinders and other unburned particles from the locomotive boiler stack and provided with means passing through the boiler below the extension for the removal of the accumulated cinders.

A further object of my invention is to provide a cinder outlet for such fire-boxes which, once installed, shall be substantially permanent; which shall be so constructed that it will not act as a stay to prevent necessary relative movement of the boiler sheets connected therewith.

A further object of my invention is to provide a thimble, for connecting two opposed sheets, of such form or construction that the connected sheets shall be free to assume their positions as defined by the changing temperatures or pressure in the boiler 'without unduly straining the thimble; and which shall be capable of lengthening or shortening longitudinally to a certain extent without producing rupturing strains therein.

My invention consists in a locomotive boiler of the extension combustion-chamber type provided with a transverse refractory wall partly closing the mouth of the extension and adapted to cause the deposit of the cinders between the wall and flue sheet, a thimble passing through the water space Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 24., 1914. Serial No. 792,807.

below the extension secured at its end to the adjacent sheets of the boiler and provided with circmnferential corrlwations between its ends adapted to permit the thimble to accommodate itself to the changing reIathe positions of the boiler sheets without proldiucmg undue strains within the thimble itse My invention also consists in a locomotive boiler having a water space defined by opposed boiler shects, a thimble projecting through this water space and connected at its ends to the confining sheets and adapted to provide a passageway from the interior of the boiler to the exterior thereof, the ends of the thimble being rigidly secured, pressure and steam tight, to the sheets of the boiler and the intermediate portion of the thimble, being provided with bellows like corrugations which permit the thimble to lengthen and shorten in accordance with any variation in relative positions of the two boiler sheets without causing a rupture of the thimble.

My invention also consists in the several arrangements and combinations of parts and in the features of construction whereby the above and other objects are attained and all as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims. My invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which;

Figure 1 is a central vertical longitudinal section of a locomotive fire-box of the extension-combustion chamber type provided with a refractory cross wall and embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the fire-box on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detail section of the lower part of the extension of the fire-box illustrating a modification of my invention; and Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing another modified form of my invention.

One of the functions of a cross wall in a locomotive fire-box is to prevent the gases of combustion from flowing directly from the fuel bed to the fines and cause them to linger in the fire-box and to pass over the interior surface thereof to the end that substantially complete combustion may take place. before the gases escape through the fines and further to permit and to cause the gases to effectively give up their heat to the water in the boiler. A further result of the installation of such walls is that they serve or tend to cause the gases of combustion to deposittheir burden of cinders or unburned fuel particles before the gases enter the flues and in the space between the wall and fine sheets. Boilers of this type as constructed have a water space below the extension of the fire-box and the problem of providing a cinder outlet to permit the removal of the cinders from the extension space has been a difficult one to solve for the reason that when it has been attempted to provide openings through which the cinders could be removed the changing dimensions of the boiler, due to variations in temperature and pressure, has been such that the tubes or thimbles have been quickly fractured and destroyed, thus causing expensive delays in the operation of the locomotive and expensive repairs. By means of my invention I am enabled to overcome these objectionable features and provide a cinder outlet for this type of boiler which, once installed, is permanent in that the walls of the thimble are so constructed that they can accommodate themselves to any ordinary or sheets a unusual changes of dimensions of the boiler which may be due to changes of temperature and pressure, without being unduly strained.

A locomotive boiler A as illustrated in the drawings consists of a main combustion chamber a of the usual form provided at its forward end with a substantially cylindrical fire box extension which projects forwardly into the barrel of the boiler from the forward end of the main combustion chamber. This fire box as illustrated consists of a flue sheet a at the forward end of the auxiliary combustion chamber, a rear sheet a at the rear end of the main combustion chamber, a crown sheet a which extends' from the rear sheet to the flue sheetya floor sheet a which connects the flue sheetwith the front water leg a arranged at the forward end of the grate space a and side The rear end of the fire-boxis provided with a fuel door or opening a and fines a lead forwardly into the boiler from the flue sheet. The floor a of the extension of the fire-box is spaced from the outer sheet a of the boiler providing a water space at between these. two sheets and .which is connected at its rear end to the as defined by the best boiler practice the two sheets are not rigidly related to each other for the reason that the boiler as a whole is more or less flexible and is subject to slight changes of shape and dimensions due to the extreme pressures and temperatures which are made use of in modern locomotive practiee.

In order to prevent the direct flow of the gases of combustion from the fuel bed to the flues and cause them'to flow over the interior surface of the fire-box, I provide a forward end of the gate and causing the rising fire box gases to be whirled and mixed before they enter the extension of the fire box. The space a above the wall which forms the connecting passage between the main combustion chamber a and the auxiliary combustion chamber a is of course of much smaller cross sectional area than either of the combustion chambers and consequently as the gases of combustion flow through this passage they are more or less compressed and as they enter the auxiliary combustion chamber they expand and their v rate of flow is consequently greatly diminished. In consequence of this the gases which have been caused to lift cinders and unburned fuel particles from the bed of fuel and carry them upward into the firebox, by reason of the strong artificial draft employed, are caused to deposit these cinders and unburned fuel particles in the extension of the combustion chamber and before the gases of combustion enter the flues. This deposit of the cinders and fuel particles is assisted by the rearward projection.

11 on the cross wall for the reason that this extension serves to cause the gases to be whirled over the wall and drawn into the combustion chamber in a direction best to throw the cinders and particles to the bottom of the combustion chamber Where they remain until removed.

In order to be able to remove the cinders.

which accumulate in the lower part of the auxiliary combustion chamber I provide a cinder outlet C which passes through the water space a" and permits access to, the extension combustion chamber from the exterior of the boiler. I preferably make the cinder outlet in the form'of a tube extending through the water space a" .and connected at its ends to the boiler sheets a and a For the purpose of conveniently connecting the tube to the boiler sheets I flange the sheet a" inwardl and the sheet a outwardly, providing anges a by means of which the ends of the tube can he conveniently riveted and secured. to the boiler. To permit the tube forming the cinder outlet to accommodate itself to changes of relative position of the sheets a and a without producing undue strain in the tube, I provlde the portion of the tube which lies between the two boiler sheets with circumferential corrugations c of what may be aptly described, bellows form, and which permit slight longitudinal extension or contraction of the tube without subjecting the tube to undue or fracturing strains. In the form of cinder outlet shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the two ends of the tube are substantially of the same diameter and the corrugations are. formed inwardly from the outside surface of the tube so that the tube can be readily entered through one of the boiler sheets to its position and thereafter tightly secured by riveting and calking. I provide the lower end of the tube C with-a removable cover 0 which normally closes the outer end of the cinder outlet and prevents the entrance of air at this point.

For the purpose of causing the cinders and other particles to gravitate into the tube C, I provide a hopper-shaped floor a in the extension of the combustion chamber which inclines in all directions toward the center or toward the inner end of the cinder outlet and the jarring and tremor produced by the locomotive in its movement over the rails cause the particles to work downwardly into the cinder outlet.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a slight modification of my invention. In this form the corrugations c of -the cinder outlet are smaller in diameter than the opening in the outer boiler sheet and the tube 0 is tapered from end to end and is smaller at its lower end than at its upper end whereby it can be entered into its positionfrom the interior of the fire box and as-the corrugations are smaller in diameter than the hole provided in the sheet a they'do not hinder the insertion of the tube 0 into its position and fur- .thermore as they are arranged to extend outwardly from the interior surface of the tube they do not form shoulders which tend to support the cinders in the tube or prevent their easy removal therefrom. In Fig. 4 I have shown a form of cinder outlet which can be inserted into position from the exterior of the boiler. In this form of my cinder outlet I taper the tube 0 from end to end similar to ,the form shown in Fig. 3 except that the small end is at the top and the corrugations 0 which I form in this tube, extend both internally and externallyand are thus most easily formed, for these corrugations require the least amount of disturbance or change of form of the material of the tube. The corrugations c are smaller in diameter than the opening provided in the sheet a and consequently, although they extend outwardly beyond the immediate contiguous surface of the tube, they do not hinder the insertion of the'tube to its position. In each case the outlet is provided with a cover-plate c which normally closes the lower end of the tube and prevents the entrance of air.

It will now 'be clear that by these means I a enabled to provide a locomotive boiler fi e -liox of the extensionv combustion chamber type with a cinder outlet which can be readily installed and which when once installed is not subjected to fracture due to changing temperatures or pressures. 'Furthermore the application of my corrugated thimble which is adapted to connect two opposed boiler sheets is not limited to the use of a cinder outlet, for it may form a cinder outlet or it may form a passage through a space in a boiler, which may be used for purposes other than the removal of cinders, and as many modifications of my invention will readily suggest themselves to one skilled in the art, I do not limit or confine my invention to the specific structures hereins own and described.

I claim:

1 .In a locomotive boiler of the extension fire-box type having a water space beneath the extension defined by the floor of the extension and the outer shellpf the boiler, a tube extending through the water space rigidly connected at its ends to the opposed boiler sheets, said tube being corrugated "between its ends and one of the ends being larger in diameter than the largest diameter of the corrugations.

2. In a locomotive boiler of the extension fire-box type having a water space below the extension, a tube passing through said copier of thin patent may be obtained tor five cent: each, by addressing the Cominlnioner of Eaten, Washington, D. 0. 

